1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a computer readable medium, a print control apparatus, a print control method, and a print system for editing a job.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a commercial print business, a benefit is given by receiving a copy (a catalogue, an advertisement, or the like) from a customer, generating a printed output object, and shipping the printed output object to the customer. Multiple steps are performed from receiving the copy to shipping the printed output object. The multiple steps include a pre-press operation, a proof print, a post-process, and a shipping operation. In the pre-press operation, the copy is received from the customer, a print condition of the printed output object is accepted, a color is adjusted, a layout is modified, and a binding location is adjusted. In the proof print, a pre-press result is confirmed by the customer. In the post-process, a printing operation is conducted, and the printed output object is pressed and bound after the printing operation. In the shipping operation, the printed output object is shipped to the customer. Steps from receiving the copy to shipping the printed output object are increased depending on the print condition of the printed output object.
In a conventional commercial print business, an order of the copy which needs a large amount of prints has been generally received. Accordingly, mass production of the printed output object is performed in the above steps. For the copy for which the mass production is performed, the print condition of the printed output object, which is requested by the customer, is mostly fixed. Thus, in the conventional commercial print business, a mass printing is performed with a single fixed print condition, and another mass printing is performed by changing the print condition after a lot of the mass printing ends. In this print operation cycle, the printed output object desired by the customer is generated.
In the print operation cycle, the above-described multiple steps are generally conducted in a case in which the print condition is changed. Accordingly, when there is no change of the print condition, it is possible for a commercial print agency to conduct a successive printing operation in the same steps, and to efficiently perform a mass print operation.
Recently, in the commercial print business, a POD (Print On Demand) market has appeared in which a relatively small quantity of lots of the printed output object is shipped within a shorter lead time, so-called “POD”. In the POD market, orders are received from multiple customers. As a result, in the POD market, many variations of the copy sent to the commercial print agency and many modifications of the print condition for the printed output object are demanded.
Also, recently, the copy has been digitalized, and control for generating the printed output object has been conducted by a computer. For example, a technology related to a workflow has appeared in which electronic data for the copy are received through a network, and the above-described multiple steps are controlled. For example, in the workflow, the print operation formed by the multiple steps may be defined by using a job ticket, so-called “JDF (Job Definition Format)”, and the print operation may be controlled by a print system.
In order to correspond to market changes of the commercial print business, the commercial print agency advances computerization of the print system to generate the printed output object by using a received copy. On the other hand, the commercial print agency is further required to build the print system to correspond to a variety of the print conditions of the print output object from the customer. Moreover, to generate a variety of the print output object desired by the customer, multiple printer apparatuses and peripheral devices related to the print system need to be installed. Also, the print cycle including the multiple steps needs to be conducted in a relatively shorter time at an operation step side.
The above-described measures are conducted by the commercial print agency. However, business efficiency needs to be further improved to realize a benefit. One of measures taken to improve the business efficiency is to simplify the print operation.
For example, in the pre-press operation, as an edit operation of the print data (job), pagination or stapling may be required. In general, as the edit operation of the job, a method using a hot folder is known. In multiple folders in which files are classified and stored, the hot folder is regarded as a folder in which a certain action is made for a file input into the folder and which is used to produce a product.
The edit operation of the job using the hot folder automatically performs a process of an edit content defined beforehand in the hot holder, for the file input into the hot folder. A job edit operation using the hot folder has been conventionally known (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2009-104303).
In the edit operation of the job using the hot folder, there is a case in which an operator such as the commercial print agency confirms whether a layout of the print data is accurately set, based on an edit result of the job, and re-edits if necessary. In this case, the job is queued in an edit waiting queue or the like. Then, the operator confirms the edit result of the job and conducts a re-edit operation.
That is, after the operator recognizes that the job is queued in the edit waiting queue, the operator confirms the edit result of the job and conducts the re-edit operation. However, the operator for inputting the job into the hot folder and the operator for confirming the edit result of the job and conducting the re-edit operation may not be the same person.
In a case in which a first operator inputs the job into the hot folder and a second operator different from the first operator confirms the edit result of the job and conducts the re-edit, the second operator may not recognize timing at which the job is input into the hot holder. Accordingly, in a case in which the job is queued in the edit waiting queue or the like, multiple jobs are retained until the second operator conducts the re-edit. In order to prevent this problem, the second operator for confirming the edit result of the job is required to frequently monitor the edit waiting queue.